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Let's say a free wheel/free hub is slipping. Would going to a lower gear than is necessary work as a temporary fix? The idea is that there would be less force on the freehub mechanism, making it less likely to slip.

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No. The issue is that the pawls line up in such a way that load unseats them rather than digging them in. It's probably toast. However, sometimes they are just really gunked up. In that case a cleaning and regreasing may save them. If you can't take them apart, spray some WD40 in the back until it works again, and then inject some fresh grease. Note that that is only a temporary solution.

Another "NO". If you don't know what the inside of a freewheel hub looks like then it's worth Googling it. Makes much more sense once you know what's going on inside. Could be several things - pawl springs worn/broken, pawls worn/broken, freewheel ring gear worn/broken or as jccaclimber mentions, gummed up. If you have a broken pawl or springs floating around then you are just doing more damage by riding on it.